New Classics
This album is built around the composer Olivier Messiaen, birdsong and impressionism. Messiaen’s Catalogue d’oiseaux (‘Catalogue of birds’), composed for piano solo, is devoted to birds and dedicated to his second wife Yvonne Loriod, who premiered the 13 pieces in Paris in 1959. Each piece is written in honour of a French province and bears the title of the bird-type of the chosen region. Book 1, played here by the excellent Roderick Chadwick, features Le Chocard des Alpes, Le Loriot and Le Merle Bleu (with violin interludes from Peter Sheppard Skærved and Shir Victoria Levy). These delightful pieces represent a journey towards sunlight, colour and company, from mountain to coastline, together with feathered songsters (song thrush, larks, golden oriole and garden warbler).
The album also includes a world premiere recording of Ondine, an accessible piece by English composer David Gorton, best known for his uncompromising modernity, as well as one of Karol Szymanowski’s greatest works, his Piano Sonata No. 3. This is imbued with passion, longing, and in the words of Sorabji, ‘an elevated ecstasy of expression’.
Roderick Chadwick, described by the Sunday Times as ‘possessor of devastating musicality and technique’, has performed widely in Europe, the United States and Asia. As both soloist and collaborator, he has championed some of the most challenging works for piano and is a particular expert on Messiaen. In 2018, he co-authored and published a book on the Catalogue d’oiseaux.
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